Beverly Wade
"Barebones and austere, Hitomi Akamatsu, known to all but her family as Beverly Wade, is a results-oriented hero who is willing to sacrifice anything, including her friendships and even humanity for the greater good. Because of this, she is continually haunted by the lives she took in order to do her job." - Skydek "Humans aren't naturally born to pull the trigger. I tried to challenge that and look where I am today." -Beverly Wade to Katsuki Bakugou. Hitomi Akamatsu (Hero Name: Beverly Wade) is a physical education instructor at Yuuei. Her quirk is Last Second. As a teacher at the most prestigious hero academy in Japan, she is hoping to reshape herself to become a hero more about saving the lives of others as opposed to ruthlessly eliminating villains. Appearance She is short, has black hair, blue eyes, and wears a heavy amount of makeup when she is out and about. Her hair is sraight, tied into two small tails in the back, and prefers to dress in black. She doesn't prefer to use a hero costume, as she claims that as long as she has her holster, which she carries around a belt at all times, she is ready for battle. Personality Hitomi Akamatsu has an anxiety disorder. Without taking medication, she is prone to random panic attacks and meltdowns, especially since her hypersensitivity to sound plays a part in this. She tends to be anxious around people. Sometimes, to combat this, she will put on a cold demeanor. Also, because o her anxiety, she hates crowds, parties, and going out during the day for extended periods of time. As a hero, she is results-driven and all about getting the job done by any means necessary, even if it means resorting to unethical and sneaky tactics. Strange though, that in spite of her anxiety, she has no problem going face to face with more serious threat like powerful villains. However, sometimes, her anxiety will kick in during battle and either cripple her or prematurely activate her quirk to difficult-to-manage levels. She also has a spirit of self sacrifice, and is willing to throw her life away to protect another. As a teacher, she is considered tough. Her classes are likened by the students to boot camps, as she puts her students through intense exercise. She claims she does this because she believes the students have hidden potential in them and she wants to bring that out. SOmetimes, she tends to be cold with her students, though she is continually working on establishing a more trusting relationship with them. She is a very hard worker and almost obsessed with physical fitness. She works out almost every day, and is knowledgeable about health and fitness, meaning that as a teacher, she is a pillar of knowledge to her students in that area. Many times, she is seen by her students skipping fun events to work out in the schools gym. Due to the fact that her quirk could trigger a heart attack if her body isn't prepared for its effects, she is vigilant in improving not only her body, but her usage of her quirk. She gets very flustered when shown large amounts of positive attention. This is not only becaus eof her childhood life bing isolated from her friends, but also in the Bullet Team, her achievements had to be hidden from the public eye, so she never had the opportunity to gain fame as a "Hero." To this day, she is frequently distressed and haunted by memories of what she did in the Special Assault Team, and her memory of the time she killed a brainwashed child drives most of her trauma she experiences. Sometimes this drives her into guilt-fueled depression and at one point while she was teaching at Yuuei, she attempted suicide. History "I spent the past 10+ years of my life killing bad guys. I tried so hard to deny the fact that they were people too, and I thought that by doing it over and over again, i'd overcome the distress it brought me. I didn't think once about how it would catch up later." -Beverly Wade to Nedzu. Though she was confirmed to have a quirk at age 4, it lay dormant within her for many years, until age 13 when she witnessed the sight of a man being shot in a public hostage situation. The loud noise and the sight triggered her quirk, but because her body was so frail, she was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with Cardiac Arrest. Following her recovery, Her quirk continued to pervade her life. Now having a hyper sensitivity to sounds, it exacerbated her anxiety disorder to the point of being crippling. She had to drop out of public school and be sheltered and educated within her home by her parents. However, Her father also pinpointed the reason behind Hitomi's near-death experience: her body wasn't ready for her quirk, so he urged her to work out. As she grew into her teenage years, she became an athletic individual. She eventually leanred to cope with her anxiety so that she could function well in public, and after High School, she enlisted into the police force. Before bring brought on board to the Yuuei staff, Hitomi Akamatsu was working in the Bullet Team, a small section of theTokyo Metropolitan Police Department Special Assault Team that enlisted individuals with quirks and trained them to fight villains behind closed doors in place of heroes. She was drafted after she registered her quirk for the first time at age 21. Under the Bullet Team's supervision, she built an impressive service record with numerous completed missions spanning over 10 years. Her rather ruthless and draconian means of fighting crime is the reason she got discharged from the special forces unit, after she killed a kidnapped child who was brainwashed and manipulated by a gang of villains, before wiping their crime syndicate out. Though she put an end to their tyranny, her actions did not bode well with anyone in her department, and she was forced to resign as a result. One day, she met All Might, who she managed to have a conversation with about how she overcame her quirk. Hoping that she would be another inspiration for Izuku Midoriya, he put in a recommendation to Yuuei to have her come on board as a Physical education instructor. Abilities "Like me, she isn't one for drawn out fights." -Shouta Aizawa Beverly Wade is a hero who gets the job done by countering an opponent's moves and using them to find openings to quickly finish them off with her trusty pistol. Her signature ability is that she can draw her weapon and reload very quickly. Her service record is vast and is a testament to her prowess as a hero and combatant. When she applied for her Provisional Hero License, the government immediately granted her one after seeing her record. This was also the main reason why she landed a job at Yuuei after getting recommendations from All Might. '''Last Second: '''Last Second is Beverly Wade's quirk. This is a hyperstimulus response to events that happen around her which grant her the superhuman strength and speed to stop those events moments before they happen. This can only be triggered by witnessing someone trying to kill another, seeing an attack almost hit her, or seeing herself in grave danger (i.e. when she attempted suicide by jumping off a building, her quirk activated moments before she hit the ground, saving her life). If she can't see it happening, she cannot take action and activate the quirk. As a result, she pays close attention to every aspect of her surroundings. She incorporated her quirk in her fighting style by purposely engaging opponents in close combat and feigning sloppy form to bait attacks that she may be able to activate her quirk constantly. '''Master Hand-to-Hand Combat Specialist: '''Beverly Wade's CQC skills are exemplary. Her skills are honed to the point where she is able to take on heroes without using her quirk simply by use of her skills, though her effectiveness is at its maximum when she combines it with her quirk. WHen she does, she is able to quickly counter and eliminate enemies. '''Marksmanship Specialist: '''Hitomi is a talented marksman. Her ability to quickly draw her gun and shoot with great accuracy is her specialty in battle. Even without the use of her quirk, she is quick with drawing, shooting and reloading, '''Keen Intellect: '''Her trainign in the Special Assault Team gifted her with the ability to think rationally in battle while also being prepared in her daily life to respond to any acts of terrorism and villainy. She is very well aware of evacuation procedures and is great for assisting civilians in getting to safety in case of an emergency. '''Hostage Negotiation Specialist: '''Beverly Wade's specialty aside from slinging bullets is her ability to disarm hostage situations, either through conversation or through force, as her quirk is perfectly suited to the job. Se has a way with words, and is very good at convincing criminals and villains to stand down. THough if she has to use force, her quirk enables her to take action before hostages are killed to save their lives and eliminate/subdue the villains. Trivia * Her room is laced with soundproof walls, and has a special alarm that emits quiet beeps when the school system's alarm triggers. * Hitomi prefers to fight at night. * Her character design is an example of a person whose quirk works hand-in-hand with a disability to impede her ability to function in everyday life, as if the quirk is a curse as opposed to a blessing. * Hitomi refers to herself as "Beverly Wade" to try to disassociate herself with her past. * Her stats are: